'Looking for my spy': The jokes Americans and Chinese are sharing on 'alternative TikTok'

Due to the potential U.S. ban on TikTok, citizens of both the United States and China are connecting in an unprecedented way, exchanging jokes and memes on the Chinese social media app called "Xiaohongshu," with one user calling it a "historic moment."

This is all happening on the popular Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, which does not have the usual internet firewall that separates China from the rest of the world. Despite the U.S. government's attempts to ban TikTok over national security concerns, many self-proclaimed "TikTok refugees" from the U.S. are finding a new online home here.

Now, Americans can directly interact with 300 million Mandarin speakers in China and other regions. Simultaneously, in the real world, Beijing is preparing for a potentially turbulent presidential term by Trump, which could further strain the fragile relationship between the two countries. "We're here to piss off our government," one user stated.

The core reason for the U.S. ban on TikTok is the concern that China is using the app to spy on Americans. TikTok has faced accusations that user data ends up in the hands of the Chinese government, as a Beijing law requires local companies to "support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence work." TikTok denies this has happened or will happen. Nevertheless, this possibility doesn't seem to worry some American users, with 700,000 new users registering on Xiaohongshu in the past two days, making it the top free app download in the U.S. app store.

A new user named Definitelynotchippy explained, "Our government told us they were going to ban TikTok because they insist it belongs to you guys, the Chinese people, government, whatever." She went on to explain why she uses Xiaohongshu: "But a lot of us are smarter than that, so we decided to annoy our government and download a real Chinese app. We call it 'fishing,' long story short, we're here to piss off our government, learn about China, and have fun with you guys."

Although TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, it is headquartered in Singapore and claims to operate independently. In fact, the Chinese version of TikTok is another app called Douyin. Xiaohongshu, on the other hand, is a Chinese company based in Shanghai and is one of the few social media apps that can be used both inside and outside of China. Therefore, Washington's concerns about TikTok could also extend to Xiaohongshu.

That’s why American users on Xiaohongshu are calling themselves "Chinese spies," continuing a trend from TikTok, where people have been saying goodbye to their "personal Chinese spies" who they have supposedly been monitored by for years. Xiaohongshu is now flooded with posts from former TikTok users looking for alternative apps. One post reads, "I'm looking for my Chinese spy. I miss you. Please help me find him." Chinese users responded, "I'm here!"

The candid and humorous conversations on Xiaohongshu may not be what Chinese President Xi Jinping envisioned when talking about "strengthening people-to-people exchanges between China and the U.S." But it is indeed happening, as excited Chinese users welcome curious Americans to the app. "You don't even need to go abroad, you can talk to foreigners here," said one Chinese Xiaohongshu user in a video that received over 6,000 likes. "But this is really crazy, no one would have thought that one day we could meet like this and communicate so openly."

Food, streaming shows, and work are among the most popular topics: "Is life in the U.S. really like it is in 'Friends'?" Other Chinese users are asking for "taxes" for using the platform—photos of cats. "Cat tax from California," one post responded. "Here is my tribute – the shorthair is a boy named Bob, and the calico is a girl named Marley." Some are also using the platform to ask Americans for help with English homework. One post reads, "Dear TikTok refugees, can you tell me the answer to question 53? Is the answer T (True) or F (False)?"

The new influx of American users seems to have caught Xiaohongshu off guard, with reports that the company is hiring English-language moderators. Others are also trying to profit from Xiaohongshu's newfound American stardom: the language learning app Duolingo posted a chart showing that its user numbers are up 216% from the same time last year.

Will Xiaohongshu become the new TikTok? The increasing popularity of Xiaohongshu is no guarantee that it will last. There is no reason to think it won’t face a backlash for the same reasons as TikTok: concerns that it could be used by China to spy on Americans. It is also unclear how long Beijing will remain open to such unfettered communication, as control over the internet is crucial to its repressive regime. One Chinese user pointed out the irony of the situation, posting, "Don't we have a (fire)wall? Why can so many foreigners come in, while I clearly can't go out?"

Typically, Chinese internet users cannot directly interact with foreigners. Global platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, as well as search engines like Google, are blocked in China, although people use VPNs to circumvent these restrictions. Sensitive topics, from history to dissent, or anything deemed critical of the Chinese government and the ruling Communist Party, are quickly censored. It is unclear how heavily Xiaohongshu is censored, which is mainly used by young and middle-aged women in China, who share pictures and videos on it. It is not like Weibo, another Chinese app, where discussion and expressions of discontent are more common, leading to posts often being deleted.

But some new Xiaohongshu users say they have already received reports that their posts have violated guidelines, including one user who posted asking if the app was "LGBT friendly." Another user said they had asked "what Chinese people think about homosexuality" and received a similar notice that they had violated "public moral order" guidelines. Chinese users are constantly reminding Americans on the app "not to mention sensitive topics like politics, religion, and drugs." One Chinese user also advised them to stick to the "One China policy," the diplomatic cornerstone of U.S.-China relations, under which the U.S. recognizes and has formal relations with China, not Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

The U.S. government has not commented on Xiaohongshu, nor has Beijing. But Chinese state media seems optimistic about it, with the Global Times even interviewing an American user who said she was "happy to interact with Chinese users." Xiaohongshu's fate in the U.S. remains to be seen, but at least online, the U.S.-China rivalry is on hold for now. Thank you for the cat photos.